Fort Cornwallis

Fort Cornwallis occupies the point where the first trading settlement on Penang was established in 1786, and its plan is the classic star with four corner bastions. The original earth and palm structure was replaced in brick around the turn of the nineteenth century, and what survives is essentially that: low ramparts, a magazine, a small chapel and the outline of the moat, which has been partly excavated and re-flooded in recent years. Old cannon are ranged along the seaward wall, among them a Dutch piece with a long local reputation for granting wishes. Inside the walls the ground is open grass, used for concerts and events, and the sea view over the channel is a working one, full of ferries and freight.

History

Captain Francis Light took possession of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah in 1786 and built the first fort, a stockade of nibong palm trunks with no permanent buildings, to guard the island against pirates and Kedah, and named it after Lord Cornwallis, then Governor-General of Bengal. In 1804, after the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, Indian convict labourers began rebuilding it in brick and stone under the contractor Lam To'Kai, grandfather of Dr Wu Lien-teh, and it was finished in 1810 at a cost of 80,000 dollars, though the threat it was built against never came. Its role was always more administrative than military: the judge of Penang's Supreme Court, Sir Edmond Stanley, was first housed here when the court opened on 31 May 1808. The moat, 9 metres wide and 2 deep, was filled in 1921 after an outbreak of malaria, when there was talk of pulling the fort down, and it later became a car park (Wikipedia, Fort Cornwallis).

The main sights

• The star-plan ramparts - four bastions and low brick walls in their original outline.
• The old cannon - the ranged guns along the seaward wall, including the Dutch Seri Rambai.
• The excavated moat - the re-flooded ditch uncovered by archaeology on the landward side.
• The chapel and magazine - the small brick buildings standing inside the walls.

When to go

Late afternoon is best, with the sun off the brick and the sea breeze picking up; before ten in the morning is the other option. The interior is largely unshaded, so midday is hard work. Evening events and light shows occupy the parade ground on some dates, which changes both the ticket and the atmosphere. Check whether the moat walk is open before paying.

Practical notes

For the ticket price you get a modest site, and visitors expecting a castle find low walls and grass. Interpretation has improved but is still thin in places. There is very little shade and the glare off the brick is fierce. The neighbouring esplanade and clock tower are free and arguably give as much of the setting as the fort itself does.

Nearby

The esplanade, the colonial civic buildings and the Penang state museum are a few minutes away.

Key facts